The present invention is directed to a chair and specifically to a chair having characteristics which yield particular benefit to weakened, partially disabled, or inform individuals.
Individuals suffering from various musculoskeletal conditions or neuromuscular disorders have unique needs with respect to a chair. A chair for such an individual must be comfortable for long periods of time, it must provide easy ingress and egress, and it must provide a stable base of support.
Ease of egress in a patient-type chair is very important. Egress involves postural changes and dynamic balance adjustments, changes and adjustments which pose particular difficulty for weak or infirm individuals, especially those with Parkinson's Disease, lower limb arthritis or chronic back pain. The difficulty encountered by such individuals in egressing from standard chairs frequently results in virtual "chair confinement," thereby threatening the continued independence of the individual. Futhermore, even if such an individual can manage to egress from the chair, the difficulty required in the effort can have a dramatically adverse effect on the individual's functional independence. For instance, older individuals suffering from Parkinson's Disease are generally quite weak. The complex biomechanical movements necessary to complete an egress require a certain amount of strength. This amount is significant to someone with low muscular reserves. The result is often that, upon egress, there is little remaining strength for continuing walking movements and the individual either proceeds with dangerously shaky, wobbly movements or is forced to sit down again. On the other hand, individuals with lower limb arthritis generally initiate the egressing movements with considerably more strength than the individual suffering from Parkinson's Disease, but the pain encountered in the effort to egress often saps this strength and upon egress leaves the individual in a precariously unstable condition. Such patients frequently avoid ambulating and spend long periods of time in inactivity, thereby exacerbating their orthopedic problems due to loss of muscle tone and increased stiffness of joints.
Conventional chairs are generally either difficult to egress or are uncomfortable to sit in for long periods of time. A patient-chair design should not sacrifice comfort in an effort to provide increased ease of egress, since weak and infirm individuals must of necessity spend long periods of time sitting down. Unfortunately, the more padded a chair is, the more difficult it generally is to egress from it.
Patient-chairs should also provide a stable base of support to compensate for a patient's lack of agility in counterbalancing movements. Providing a stable base of support is important in a patient-chair since the egressing effort frequently leaves an invalid shaky and wobbly. A chair which is unstable an an object of support can be dangerous to the weakened or invalid individual because the natural tendency when losing one's balance in the use of a chair is to attempt to support oneself by grabbing that chair.
Fixed-base chairs of the prior art which provide a gentle rocking motion but whose armrests "rock" with the seat, almost always require large bases. This is because the seat is almost always set back from the front legs to provide a stable surface (i.e., the armrests immediately above the front legs) against which the user can push during ingress and egress. This is not necessary with the chair of the invention because its armrests are rigid along their entire length, not merely at a single point over the front legs.
There is therefore a need for a patient-type chair that is easy to egress, that provides a stable article for support, and that is comfortable for long periods of time.